Joba's 1st start set for Tuesday

MINNEAPOLIS -- Fans holding tickets to what appeared to be a mundane weeknight Yankees game against the Blue Jays suddenly have the hottest seats in town.

Joba Chamberlain will make his first major-league start on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium against Toronto, the Yankees announced yesterday. While the 22-year-old phenom could have started Monday's series finale against the Twins here in the relative calm of the Metrodome, the Yankees opted to keep Andy Pettitte on his regular five days' rest and he will start Monday.

So for the first time, instead of one or two innings of Jobamania, Yankee fans will get 65 to 70 pitches worth.

"It was one of the things we talked about," manager Joe Girardi said of starting Chamberlain at home versus on the road. "But eventually you have to pitch at both places, so it's not going to matter."

Chamberlain, who made his first two major-league appearances last season on the road, said pitching at home gives him a bit of an advantage.

"Just having those people behind us and having the atmosphere that maybe you're accustomed to," Chamberlain said. "It's going to help. It's going to be comforting."

Tuesday will mark a new chapter in the development of one of the Yankees' prized young prospects, who is 1-2 with a 2.28 ERA and 30 strikeouts in 23Ò innings spread over 20 games this season.

Because of Chamberlain's inning limit this year -- believed to be somewhere around 150, although the Yankees won't divulge the exact number -- the team started the season with Chamberlain as their setup man. The plan always was to move him to the rotation at some point during the first half of the year.

That transition began May 21 with two innings, and continued with two innings on May 24. In his most recent outing on Wednesday night at Camden Yards, Chamberlain threw 28 pitches in 1Ð innings against the Orioles and followed that up with 27 more pitches during a bullpen session immediately after he left that game.

The Yankees are expecting Chamberlain to remain in the rotation for the rest of the season, barring anything unforeseen. He is scheduled to increase his pitch count by 10-15 pitches with each start following Tuesday's until he tops out at around 100 or so.

The hype all along has been astronomical, and should reach new heights against the Blue Jays -- never mind that Chamberlain made only 15 minor-league starts last season, and just one at the Triple-A level.

But he's been nothing but successful as a reliever so far. On top of that, the struggles and subsequent injuries of fellow highly touted rookie pitchers Phil Hughes (0-4, 9.00 ERA, and a fractured right rib) and Ian Kennedy (0-3, 7.41, with a strained right lat) have left the Yankees with a hole in their rotation just waiting for Chamberlain to fill.

"He hasn't done it at this level, but he's done it before," Girardi said, "and he's aware of what he has to do. The bottom line is: When you go through the lineup the second and third time, you just have to continue to make pitches."

Chamberlain still hasn't thrown much of his off-speed stuff in game situations, something that should change Tuesday, though Chamberlain said he still plans to rely on his bread and butter -- a fastball in the high-90s and wicked slider.

"I'm going to need those (off-speed) pitches, but I can't get away from what got me to the point where I'm at," Chamberlain said. "You don't have to go away from the fastball and slider to get outs, because it's no secret those are my two best pitches."

Chamberlain's father Harlan and young son Karter are here this weekend. But Chamberlain said his family could fly to New York next week to attend his start as well.

Whether Chamberlain will be as dominating as a major-league starter as he has been in relief, or whether he encounters the same problems as Hughes and Kennedy have, remains to be seen. What won't change much is his fiery, sometimes controversial mannerisms on the mound, such as pumping his fist and yelling after a crucial strikeout.

"You're still going to see the same person," Chamberlain said. "I'm going to use my emotions to my advantage, and sometimes I'm going to let it get the most of me, and try to do too much. So for a length of time you have to use it in a good way, not in a bad way, and not get too amped because one inning turned into five and six."